How to Write a Painting Estimate: Steps & Example

An estimate is only as good as what you learn at the walkthrough. Look at every surface that will be painted, note its condition, and ask the questions that change the price before you pick up the tape measure.

Take photos of what you see. They help you remember details when you price the job and give you a record of the condition before you started.

For each room, measure length, width and ceiling height in feet. The walls are four rectangles, so total wall area is the perimeter multiplied by the height.

1. Perimeter: 2 × (14 + 11) = 50 ft
2. Gross wall area: 50 × 9 = 450 sq ft
3. Openings: 1 door × 21 sq ft + 2 windows × 15 sq ft = 51 sq ft (a 3 × 7 ft door and 3 × 5 ft windows)
4. Paintable wall area: 450 − 51 = 399 sq ft

Ceilings are length × width (14 × 11 = 154 sq ft). Price trim, doors, baseboards and cabinets as their own lines: they take more time per square foot than open wall, and lumping them in with walls hides the labor.

Standard door and window sizes are a convenient shortcut; measure the real openings when they are unusual. Whether you subtract small openings at all is your call, as long as you apply the same rule to every estimate.

Paint makers commonly rate a gallon at about 350 to 400 square feet per coat (Sherwin-Williams). Check the data sheet for the exact product you plan to use, because rough, porous or heavily patched surfaces take more paint.

1. Coverage area = paintable area × coats: 399 × 2 = 798 sq ft
2. Gallons = coverage area ÷ coverage per gallon: 798 ÷ 350 = 2.28 gallons
3. Round up to what you can buy: 3 gallons

Labor is hours multiplied by your hourly cost. The reliable way to get the hours is your own history: time a few jobs, divide the area by the hours, and use that rate for similar work. Include prep, protecting floors and furniture, cutting in, every coat, and cleanup.

In the example, one painter spends eight hours on the room at a labor cost of $40 an hour: 8 × $40 = $320. Those rates are illustrations, not market prices. Use what the work actually costs you, including payroll costs and insurance if you have a crew.

Materials and labor are your direct costs. Overhead covers what keeps the business running: vehicle, insurance, tools, software and office time. One way to carry it is as a percentage of direct cost. Profit goes on top.

Markup is a percentage added to your cost. Margin is the share of the price you keep. They sound alike and they are not: a 20% markup on $539.00 gives $646.80, and your profit is only about 16.7% of that price. To keep 20% of the price, divide your cost by 0.80 instead, which gives $673.75.

Neither is wrong, but pick one on purpose and use it on every estimate. If your goal is a target share of each sale, price on margin.

Now turn the numbers into a document the client can understand. Describe the work in plain language, area by area, instead of showing your cost build-up.

The words estimate, proposal and quote are used loosely. If you are unsure which to send, read estimate vs. proposal vs. quote.

In the United States, the EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting rule requires firms that are paid to disturb painted surfaces in housing built before 1978 to be certified, and their employees to be trained in lead-safe work practices (EPA). That includes painters and sole proprietors. Ask the year the home was built at the walkthrough, and either price in the extra containment and cleanup or decline the job if you are not certified. State and local rules may add requirements.

Send the estimate while the walkthrough is fresh. Say when you will follow up, then do it. In Estiggle you write the proposal against the client, email the customer a link to review and sign it, and turn the accepted work into an invoice without retyping anything. How to create and send a proposal in Estiggle shows each step.